GOLDEN GATE ESTATES - Andrea Kidder, 28, a teacher at Oakridge Middle School in Golden Gate Estates, faces prison time if convicted in connection with the Nov. 13, 2009, accident, which killed the 22-year-old Bree Kelly. Kidder was arrested on Sept. 28 on charges of DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide and two counts of DUI with personal injury or property damage. She is on personal leave from her job.

Andrea Kidder told troopers she only drank two beers before causing the accident that killed 22-year-old Bree Kelly.

A blood test suggests a different story.

Results show Kidder had a blood-alcohol content of 0.196 percent, more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit, according to an arrest affidavit. Even for the diminutive Kidder, who measures 5 feet 3 inches and weighs 100 pounds, it was a considerable amount of alcohol.

"That is probably in the range of a 10-beer (reading)," offered Fort Myers DUI and criminal defense attorney Michael Hornung, who isn't involved in the case. "So you're going from a 2-beer claim to a 10-beer reading."

The suggestion that Kidder drank heavily is disputed by co-workers drinking with her at the time, the manager of the bar and Kidder's attorney, who contends the blood test is incorrect.

"We believe that when the issue is thoroughly investigated, we're going to find some type of mistake was made in the way the blood was collected, it was analyzed or handled," defense attorney Jerry Berry said.

Kidder, 28, a teacher at Oakridge Middle School in Golden Gate Estates, faces prison time if convicted in connection with the Nov. 13, 2009, accident, which killed the 22-year-old Kelly. She was arrested on Sept. 28 on charges of DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide and two counts of DUI with personal injury or property damage. She is on personal leave from her job.

The crash occurred at 7:39 p.m. when Kidder, driving east on Interstate 75 at around the 102-mile marker (near the Collier Boulevard interchange), rear-ended the pickup truck in which Kelly was a passenger. The truck, driven by friend Nicholas Mason, swerved into the median and flipped several times, sending the unrestrained Kelly into the median.

"I wondered if I was going to get hit or if the car was going to slow down," he said. "Then I got hit."

Kidder suffered minor injuries and refused to be taken to a hospital. Mason was injured in the crash but survived. Kelly suffered severe head trauma and was rushed to Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers. She died before dawn the next morning.

When Collier County paramedic Jolene Apicella asked a shaken Kidder what happened, the driver said she was going with the flow of traffic when Mason's SUV "slammed on its brakes and she couldn't stop in time."

Investigators found no evidence that Mason hit his brakes.

Moments before the crash, witness Lisa Wilson was driving in the slow lane when she saw Kidder's black Infinity pass her at a high rate of speed, "at least 90 (mph)," she told Rongish.

After passing, the car drifted into and out of the right-hand lane before accelerating ahead.

"I saw sparks everywhere and I knew that (the driver) had slammed into somebody," she said.

"We believe that when the issue is thoroughly investigated, we're going to find some type of mistake was made in the way the blood was collected, it was analyzed or handled," defense attorney Jerry Berry said.

"Two beers is not going to get someone a 0.196 (percent)," said Lt. Chris Miller, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol. "She either drank before, she drank after or she drank more than two beers with her co-workers."

The affidavit, a summary of Rongish's investigation, reveals that Kidder had been drinking with Oakridge Middle co-workers before the accident. The group, which included school Principal Kevin Saba, met at the nearby Blue Monkey Bar as early as 4 p.m. on the day of the accident, a Friday. It's unclear how long she stayed, but the report mentions no other drinking by Kidder.

Saba told Rongish that he arrived at 5 p.m., stayed for two hours at most and saw Kidder drink at least one beer.

Language arts teacher Jill Raw said she saw Kidder at the bar at 4 p.m. and estimated her co-worker drank one or two beers. Another language arts teacher, Celeste Duplaa, said she saw Kidder drink one beer.

Saba, Duplaa and the Collier County School District didn't respond to requests for comment. Efforts to reach Raw were unsuccessful.

Homicide investigator Rongish wrote in the affidavit that he was unable to obtain video or a receipt verifying Kidder was at the bar. But Blue Monkey manager George Osler said he gave Rongish a collective receipt from the table. No one was drinking heavily, Osler said, and he recalled the tab coming to about $60 for six to 10 people.

"At this point, I'm pretty for sure she only had one or two beers," Osler said.

Kidder wasn't arrested at the accident scene. Trooper Jeff Benoit reported at the time that she had a "moderate odor" of alcohol coming from her breath and that she showed signs of nystagmus — a jerking of the eyes — consistent with intoxication.

Benoit later told homicide investigator Rongish that Kidder had passed two field sobriety tests, and that she never made any statements, according to the affidavit.

Another first responder told Rongish that Kidder looked intoxicated. Collier County EMS Lt. Juan Camps said he couldn't smell the odor of alcohol on Kidder, but that she came off as drunk. He recalled a moment when she struggled to reattach her phone's battery after it detached.

"It was like (watching) a little child trying to figure out how to play with Legos," Camp said. "The way she was acting led me to believe that she was under the influence of something."

Hornung, the DUI attorney, said a driver involved in a fatal accident sometimes appears similar to an intoxicated driver.

"I can tell you her face is probably going to be flush, her eyes are probably going to be watery and bloodshot," he said.

Hornung also noted that Highway Patrol troopers only take a breath test when making an arrest and that standard procedure is for a trooper to have blood drawn from a fatal accident.

Lt. Chris Miller, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol, said the result speaks for itself.

"Two beers is not going to get someone a 0.196 (percent)," he said. "She either drank before, she drank after or she drank more than two beers with her co-workers."

Berry said the accounts of colleagues and Benoit suggest otherwise.

"The only evidence that supports a position that she was intoxicated is the blood-alcohol level," Berry said. "All of the other evidence contradicts that."